One of the straight-up joys of drinking beer is the simple fact of discovering something new. Whether it’s a brewery you’ve never heard of, or the latest release from a producer you have loved for years – that moment still plays out exactly the same. The realisation that evolves from your first sip, revealing a hitherto unknown gem.

We love those moments too, which is why we continually aim to get the very best guest beers into our bars. And with that in mind, our latest quarterly guest beer menu has arrived.

Yes, the next time you lean on the counter of your favourite UK BrewDog bar and look in the fridges, there will be a new range of discoveries to be made – chances for more of those eye-opening moments to occur. Head to your nearest bar for the full list, but until you can get your shoes and coat on here are five brand new guest beers that are now featured in our UK bars…

Modern Times Fortunate Islands (4.8%)

It takes a lot to get noticed in the San Diegoan (San Diegan?) beer scene, but Modern Times have been making waves ever since they opened two years ago. With their distinctively classic branding, their cans look great – but of course, more importantly, the beers inside are as good as you can find. Fortunate Islands is a mashup of West Coast IPA and wheat beer, with the citrus and tropical fruits of Amarillo and Citra balanced by the smooth, layered backbone of 60% wheat malt. This restrained bitterness allows the vibrancy of the tropical fruit flavours to rise to spectacular levels.

Ayinger Ur-Weisse (5.8%)

One of the classic breweries of the continent, Brauerei Aying are renowned across the brewing world for their doppelbock; a beer that depicts an entire style. Yet joining it in our UK bar fridges from today is an unsung classic – their fruity, slightly spiced dunkelweizen. Ayinger Ur-Weisse is a wheat beer brewed with a touch of roasted malt, giving it that extra, deeper, dimension of earthy spice and sweet caramel, which play beautifully against the clove and banana notes from the yeast. As with all their beers – a true celebration of brewing.

Dieu du Ciel! Aphrodisiaque (6.5%)

Ok, so this one has appeared in our bars before – but it is so good, we had to bring it back. If you were given only a single word with which to describe it, ‘sumptious’ would be a good one to pluck from the thesaurus. A smooth, sweet cocoa and vanilla stout, Aphrodisiaque is a beer to relax and indulge in, as the night falls outside. We love the attitude and energy Dieu du Ciel! bring to their beermaking – but above all, we love the flavours they achieve in sensational beers such as this.

Siren Dippy and the Equinox (8.5%)

There are few UK breweries consistently at the top of their game as Siren. Likewise (and this is undoubtedly related) there are also few who produce as many collaborative beers. Dippy and the Equinox was brewed in conjunction with Oregon brewery Boneyard, and is an unflinching, full-forward celebration of the hop. A thunderous double IPA, it unveils pretty much every hop-based flavour you could wish for – riotous pine and resin, marmalade, mango and passion fruit – with a persistent caramel backbone tying everything together beautifully.

Stone w00tstout (13.0%)

Finally for this mini-list, we end on a beer quite unlike any other. A three-way meeting of minds between Greg Koch of Stone, online newshound Drew Curtis and Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Wil Wheaton (no, really), w00tstout is an imperial rye pecan stout aged in bourbon barrels. Virtually impossible to sum up in a paragraph, it tastes akin to dunking a chocolate vanilla fudge cake in American whiskey for a month. If ever there was a beer to celebrate the turning of the seasons with, it is this – the most spectacular of autumnal warmers.

If you get to try any of these – or any other of our new Guest bottled beer list – then let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Likewise, if there are any breweries that you think we should add to our list, let’s hear them!

Yeah - Siren !! I have been raving and drooling about them for the last year.
Along with Mad Hatter from Liverpool, these two have been giving The Kernel and BBNo some tough competition. Check out Mad hatter Toxteth IPA 6.5%.

FragUK - We get a lot of Oakham beer in Nottingham. Citra and Green Devil are on my regular hit list.

Alastair02.10.2015 @ 12:43pm

Well this is serendipitous a beer drinking mate of mine just been in Quebec for work and was raving about the Aphrodisiaque.